A Twist in Spacetime
by Aria6
Summary: Zero from the year 31XX is flung back in time to the year 21XX, and decides to correct a few things... and have fun along the way. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

This fanfic is based off Eric Flint's books and his Assiti shard idea. XD Which I doubt he'd mind, since people write fanfics on his stories all the time, although usually not combining with other things… eh, whatever. Basically, for those of you who haven't read 1632 (read it!) the Assiti are a race that fancies their 'sopilist amusements with the fabric of spacetime'. Basically, they created sculptures out of the spacetime continuum. And were quite oblivious to the damage the shards of their sculptures, little free floating pieces of spacetime, did to the rest of the universe.

This is the story of one of those shards…

* * *

It was the year 31XX. The sky was a sickly green, marred by tremendous dark clouds that spiked with horrific lightnings. A scouring wind swept across a sere, barren landscape. Strange plants opened needle sharp flowers to the sun, and were pollinated by equally strange creatures with dozens of wings. Truly, the Earth was no longer fit for human beings… but it had no need to be. No human beings lived there.

A woman leaned back against a blasted, battered chunk of metal. Where had it come from? She spent an idle moment musing on the question. A hovercar, a Maverick, an alien attack ship? One of her own attack ships? Who could tell, exactly? She liked to fancy it was her own. One of the ships she had piloted with her mind, during the alien invasion and attempt to… alien-form the planet. Not terraform, but to change the planet into their alien template. They had mostly succeeded in that attempt. She watched an alien bug skitter by, followed closely by a cat, who caught it under one paw and ate it. They had interrupted that alien-form process and natural selection had decided what lived and what died. The mix of alien and human beasts and plants pleased her, in a strange way. She'd always approved of natural selection, confident that she would be among the chosen. She smiled and tapped her piece of metal, then smiled again as a dozen little flowers turned to look at her, a splash of glorious color. They were alien things, but very sweet, capable of uprooting themselves and slowly walking to a place with better conditions. These ones stayed where they were… she regularly watered them out of her ration, and they repaid her with attention if not love. And they reproduced quite regularly, which was good, since they were eaten just as regularly by everything from rabbits to blue-furs.

The woman sighed, and flipped open a small hand-held mirror, examining herself. Long golden hair had been pulled back with an old, faded red ribbon. Her face wasn't beautiful, but it was handsome. A bit too masculine for a woman, perhaps, but she hadn't always been a woman. Her brilliant blue eyes had never changed and it was a pleasure to see them, one of the few constants in her long life. Her t-shirt was white, and dirty, but still had a red, square smiling face on the front… it looked like it was smirking. She smiled wistfully, remembering the ancient Bon Jovi video she had taken it from. No one else understood the reference.

"Zero?" A voice called, and she sighed, dragging herself to her feet. A figure cautiously loped over the ground, keeping an eye out for predators. He was a young man with short, bright green hair and amber eyes. He was carrying her supplies for the week… packs of food, water, and batteries to power her few appliances.

"Thank you," she said with a genuinely grateful smile. She really appreciated the effort they were going to too make her comfortable. Zero had asked that they not fly all the way in to her little house, because it disturbed her flowers, and they had acceded to her wish.

None of the other inmates in this prison would have gotten that treatment. All of Earth had become a prison, for dangerous and incorrigible criminals… and a few oddballs like herself. She had deliberately chosen to come here in preference to several much better placements. Something about the thought of returning to Earth had called to her. She'd been made here, expected to die here, and enjoyed serving her time here. Although the attitude of the wardens took a bit of the fun out of it. She'd pleasantly anticipated standing up to them… dealing with hardened criminals, they weren't noted for kindness to their charges. But her reputation had gone before her and they'd treated her like a mentally ill matron. Like Zero was to be respected, but gently pitied and treated with extreme courtesy. She'd even tried to make trouble a few times, just for kicks, but their gentle admonishments had taken the fun right out of it.

Zero took the packs from the boy, and gave him a gentle pat on the cheek, making him blush. She'd slept with him a few times, just for variety. There were normally orders against that sort of thing, but no one was likely to enforce it when the subject was her. No one in their right mind would believe she had been forced into it, and everyone was willing to give the ancient hero the comforts she desired.

"Thank you," she said with another smile, and he smiled back before walking away to complete his rounds. Maybe he would come visit her later. Zero thought about it for a moment, then decided she would be receptive if he did. She was feeling a bit bored.

But it was time to water her flowers. She'd just opened the pack when-

There was a tremendous flash of light. With a small scream, she hit the ground and rolled, memories of a dozen wars flashing through her mind. She was being bombed-

No. No, that was ridiculous. Zero gradually calmed down, realizing that nothing had come with that flash of light. Except…

She slowly sat up, and tilted back her head, eyes widening in shock and disbelief. The sky was blue, and dotted with little fluffy clouds. A sky she hadn't seen in hundreds of years…

"What happened?" She gasped out, but there was no one to answer.

It didn't take her long to work up the courage to check out her new environment. She hadn't gotten where she was by being a shrinking violet. She quickly gathered up her food and water packs, giving the flowers one last sprinkle before she walked away. She took only one of the battery packs, storing the others. She wasn't going to carry her appliances, so the batteries would be of limited utility, but who knew what she might use them for? They were crude technology, designed to be manufactured at minimum cost in harsh environments. Perfect for Earth.

There were no sounds as she walked across the dry landscape. Apparently, all the beasts had been frightened witless by the flash. She didn't really blame them.

Zero halted as she saw a wall ahead of her. It wasn't the usual, force field enclosure she had lived in… an enclosure designed to let wildlife travel freely, but stop her from leaving. No, this was a wall of… dirt. Where had it come from?

Her eyes widened as she saw the trees on the other side of the wall. She couldn't recognize most of them, but she was sure of one thing… they no longer existed. A lot of Terran species had died out in the chaos of alien/human competition, and few trees had fared well. Pines, mostly, and her people had managed to save maples and most fruit trees with dedicated effort. But these were other things… she fumbled a moment, then managed to name a few. Maple, beech, oak…

Zero hesitated for a moment, then jumped easily over the wall. The edge almost crumpled under her feet, and she realized, to her surprise, that nothing was really holding that wall together but surface tension. Glancing back, she saw that her slice of arid scrub desert had been fitted into a dissimilar landscape like a blob of jam being stuffed into a cookie. The edges didn't match, creating the wall… in some places, her landscape was higher, and the wall was on the other side.

Tilting her head to one side, she tried to imagine what could have caused this. Twisted spacetime? A bizarre tunnel drive accident?

Shrugging, she slung her packs over one shoulder and set off into the ancient, Earthly landscape with a pleased smile.

It had been years since she had enjoyed an adventure.

* * *

For a while, Zero walked, just savoring the cool, moist air. She had been in the desert so long, a temperate forest was very unusual. They still existed on the Earth she was used to, of course, but full of alien trees and a bizarre mix of fauna. She would have sworn this place was authentic old Earth. It certainly seemed very familiar.

Finally, though, the surroundings became a bit boring. So she worked herself into a good run, dashing through the trees. If someone else had been watching, they would have been stunned by her speed… and more stunned how her blue flames sometimes shot from the bottom of her feet. But they would have recognized the existence of a dash system, even if they wouldn't have understood how she could have it.

Her hair flowed behind her like a river of gold, and she laughed. It had been a very long time since she had done this…

Behind her, Zero never noticed a tiny, ambulatory flower climbing over the spliced together landscape. Finding cool, wet ground full of lovely nutrients, it immediately screwed itself into the new world it had been given.

"My god," she mumbled softly, looking around with wide eyes. She'd finally reached a settlement… a city.

It was like stepping back in time. The streets were full over hoverbikes and hovercars, humans and Reploids were everywhere, and strangest of all, Zero recognized this place. It was Earthsaver III, and tears suddenly filled her eyes. Not because of the ruin the city had become, but because of what had happened in those ruins…

Sniffing softly, she wiped her eyes, then started to walk slowly through the streets. Zero couldn't help but ogle some of the Reploids and humans she saw along the way. Both species were almost unknown, in 31XX. How could they be here? How could any of this be here? Had she somehow been sent through time?

Zero glanced at a newspaper vending machine, and stopped, shocked. Slowly, she read the date, and looked at the picture on the front. It was 21XX, and the picture was…

"Me." She said softly. "The way I used to be…" When she had been male, her armor had been red, and her beam saber feared by Mavericks. Zero vaguely remembered what it had been like to be only male. A long time ago, she'd been force transferred to a female body as an emergency measure to keep her alive. That had started the slide into loss of sexual identity, and when she had gotten her newest body, she hadn't been able to resist playing with the metamorphosis abilities. Being female had slowly become more comfortable…

Zero shook her head, amazed, then suddenly stiffened and checked the date again. She gasped, feeling like she had been punched in the gut. HE would still be here, still alive!

She took off running, dashing easily through the streets and ignoring the cries of surprise and alarm behind her. She had a mission now, and it needed to be completed right away. Who knew how much time she had?

She was amazed at how accurate and clear her memory of this place was. She had spent a long time with amnesia, during the time of Neo Arcadia, before finally regaining all her memory. She still hadn't expected that she would be able to navigate Earthsaver III after a thousand years, but it seemed she could. All the streets, the stores, the potted flowers and trees were so achingly familiar…

Maverick Hunter HQ was precisely where she expected to find it. The building was so familiar, it hurt her heart to see. She hesitated, then slowly stepped inside.

"Gods, just the way I remember it… down to the rookies." She mumbled to herself, skirting some of the youngsters hovering around. They gave her peculiar looks, but to her relief, Zero didn't recognize any of them. Now how was she going to find HIM in this mess? One option was just to walk through the halls, but that would get her questioned and kicked out in short order. What was left?

An idea suddenly occurred to her, and she grinned wickedly, looking around for a candidate.

A green Reploid happened to walk into the lobby at that moment, probably on his way outside for Twinkies, if she recalled his habits correctly. Douglas loved the little cream stuffed pastries. But there was something else he loved more, something he could very rarely attract… she sauntered slowly towards him, smiling lazily.

"Hello, Douglas," she purred softly, startling him.

"Hello… do I know you?" He said, confused but hesitantly smiling.

"After a fashion. I met you in a conference at New York?" She lied easily, confident that he would have been in a conference there at some point. And even if he hadn't, there was no way in the world he'd remember that for certain. Douglas was more than a little absent minded about things like that.

They chattered for a few moments, Zero convincingly imitating a young girl. It took some effort not to reveal his knowledge of things he shouldn't know, and sometimes Douglas mentioned technical things that went completely past her, but she had perfected the art of smiling and nodding a long time ago. Finally, she found the opening she wanted.

"Could you show me around?" She said innocently. If she was lucky, he would be here and she would find him. If not, then she would have to continue charming Douglas and use him to hang around the HQ long enough to find him. If things hadn't been so important to her past self, Zero might have felt a little guilty about that. As it was, she wasn't going to waste any emotion on it.

Linking her arm with Douglas', they walked through Hunter HQ. Douglas seemed very, very pleased that she was willing to hold his hand and the rest of the HQ was certainly startled. She grinned to herself as the third person passing by gave them a peculiar look. Douglas poor luck with ladies was well known.

Douglas took her into the lounge, and Zero stiffened as her gaze fell on a familiar boy playing a video game on the couch. He glanced up at them, and smiled brightly.

"Hi Douglas! Wow, who is this?" Axl bounced to his feet, holding out a hand to her. "Hi, I'm Axl." Zero smiled, shaking his head.

"I'm Rose." She said smoothly. The name amused her… spelt with a z instead of an s, it was an anagram for her real name. She glanced around the lounge. There was no one else there, but this area was very open… she needed somewhere more secluded. "I'm curious… does Hunter HQ have a garden?" If her memories were correct, it did, and it wasn't much used. Axl beamed at her, obviously attracted, and Zero almost grinned at Douglas' unhappy expression. He was afraid Axl was going to poach his prize. If only he knew… "I'll show you!" Axl dashed ahead, energetic as always, and Zero gently patted Douglas arm, giving him a reassuring smile. That relaxed him slightly. She would have preferred to gently sluff him off, but she couldn't see any way to do that graciously. It would be easy enough to quiet him, anyway.

"Here it is," Axl said cheerfully. "Isn't it nice?" Zero glanced around, and felt a disturbing wave of nostalgia and homesickness. This was the flora of Earth, flowers that had died out so long ago almost no one knew their names anymore. Roses, lilies, marigolds…

Zero sighed wistfully, then abruptly pulled away from Douglas and punched him in the head. It was a carefully calculated blow, but she still winced as she felt his armor crumple under her fist. She was so much stronger, and it had been so long, that it was hard to judge the durability of these ancient Reploids. Axl was just turning when she seized him by the throat, dragging him and Douglas out of sight behind a shrub.

"Wha…?" Axl choked in her merciless grip, drawing both his guns and firing them point blank into her chest. His eyes went wide as saucer plates as her shirt shredded but her body suffered only light burns. Zero grimaced, realizing she'd have a problem when she tried to leave, if she didn't want to get stopped for flashing her boobs at the world. She briefly wished she could go back to her male form, but that would take a day and then her pants wouldn't fit.

"Sorry Axl. Believe me, this is for the best… although it's going to hurt." She muttered in his ear, then her fingers dug sharply into the underside of his jaw, little tendrils ripping easily through the soft, vulnerable area. She pinned Axl to her body with her other arm as he shuddered, going limp as her tendrils hit his spinal column and took over his bodily functions. If she'd wanted to, she could have manipulated him like a puppet. But that was the last thing on her mind.

"Lumine, Lumine… come out, you bastard…" She muttered, to herself and a little to Axl, who could hear her quite clearly even if he couldn't move and react. His green eyes blinked, and he managed to look surprised and confused despite the pain. Then he stiffened with an agonized sound as she found what she was looking for… and it responded.

_Who…?_ The shocked voice was like a thought to Axl, but not his own thought, and Zero heard it quite clearly. She bared her teeth in an expression no one in their right mind would call a smile.

"Your doom." She began methodically infecting Axl with her own defensive systems. The powerful counter virii and brutally strong programs could operate on his foreign system because of her connection to him. She had interfaced with him, networked him, and he was part of her. If she had tried to copy the programs to him, they would certainly have failed… her processing power was far beyond Axl's. But she could run them from herself on him.

The struggle that followed was furious, but brief. Lumine's download to Axl was dramatically outmatched. She grinned as she uprooted it, then blinked as her systems informed her…

"Oh, how clever. I don't think so." In desperation, Lumine had secreted an easter egg into Axl's data copying before she'd destroyed him. If she left that, it would eventually hatch… although she doubted it would be as large or interesting as the bigger download she'd just destroyed. Zero hesitated a moment, considering the DNA copying centres. They were well understood in her time, and were part of her systems, although they were under a kind of peace bond to prevent her from using them. She would have to remove that soon… but with Axl's systems, there was another problem. Because of the crude yet powerful prototype system, and her own incompatibilities, she couldn't isolate the individual data. There was only one way to get rid of it. "Sorry Axl. You'll have to start over… but I'll give you a boost." She bit her lip, and forced a purge of Axl's entire DNA archives. Axl's eyes widened in horror as he realized what she had just done… then blinked as she gave him a new piece of DNA data, downloading it directly to his copying centre. There was a faint, unpleasant sucking sound as she unplugged her tendrils from him. Axl almost collapsed, but Zero held him up until his legs steadied.

"Who… who are you?" He asked hoarsely, stepping back and rubbing his throat. She considered the question, then shrugged.

"Rose. That's as much the truth as anything… but I'm not an enemy. If I hadn't done that, Lumine would eventually have taken you over and turned you against all your friends, keeping you a captive in your own mind." Axl's eyes widened again, but he nodded, swallowing hard. He'd heard the voice and felt what she had done, and he knew it was nothing but the truth. "Eventually, Zero would have killed you and your last words…" Her voice broke, dampness filling her eyes. "W-would have been… thank you." She could still remember that horrible scene, like it had been yesterday. There had been so much blood, that poor, tattered body in her arms… and the green eyes, already glazing over, looking up at him as he spoke… Axl swallowed again, horrified. He couldn't doubt the sincerity in her voice. Zero took a deep breathe, getting herself under control… then grimaced as she noticed Axl's was having trouble keeping his gaze from straying.

"Kids," she muttered, and Axl flushed, realizing he'd been caught looking at the remains of her shirt. "Axl, I need to leave. Can you get me a shirt?" She crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her assets.

"Why… do you need to leave? If you're not an enemy…" Axl asked almost timidly. It was a strange thing, from him, but she'd just put him through a painful and shocking experience. Zero thought about it, and suddenly grinned.

"Oh, I'll be back in a month or two. But now that I've done what's important, I have a few plans about what to do… and how to make Sigma cry like a little girl," she said wickedly. Zero honestly did have plans that would make Sigma spasm and wish her dead. Her knowledge of ancient history included some truly wonderful tidbits that would be useful as hell. Axl looked puzzled, but nodded.

"Alright…" He dashed off, and Zero kneeled down beside Douglas, checking him. She shook her head, realizing that she really had hurt him badly. He'd survive, but he would need some pretty extensive repairs and might have some minor memory loss.

She looked up as Axl returned with a shirt, and took it with a smile, quickly putting it on. "You better get Douglas to the infirmary… tell him I'm sorry for that, if he remembers me." Short term memory would be most affected, so he might not.

Axl hesitated, then watched her walk out. She'd earned that much from him, even if she'd hurt Douglas… he shuddered as he remembered that familiar voice in his mind. They had all suspected Lumine had done something to him, but the scans had come up blank. Now, if Rose was to be trusted, he didn't need to worry anymore…


	2. Chapter 2

Zero sat on a park bench, chewing on part of her food ration and thinking about her plans for the future. Her food ration was broken into smaller packets, each labeled to tell her what they generally tasted like. The taste was good, but the consistency was monotonous, chewy and a little rubbery. The packets, unwrapped, looked like nothing more than blocks of tofu but they were actually a far more advanced synthetic. Most people of her day hated rations like this, although everyone ate them at least a few times a week. She smiled wistfully as she remembered how her children had complained, and how sick and tired they had been of her lecture about how good they had it and her stories about the one hundred and one ways to prepare a dish of rats.

Zero suddenly stopped eating, staring down at the ration block in its bright blue wrapping. Completely recycleable wrapping, like everything else in her time. Items were built with recycling in mind, and everything was reused, when at all possible. She bit her lip sharply, wanting to feel the pain.

She was in the past. There was no way she would see her children, or her society, ever again. She hadn't liked modern society. It seemed like she had been left behind, somewhere along the way. Like an aged hippy who just couldn't get with the corporate culture, she'd been forced to muddle along in a place that loved her but had no use for her. Everyone was happy, but sometimes, she felt like society had lost its soul. Everything was… pleasant. The artwork was pleasant; the sculptures were pleasant, even work was wonderfully pleasant. But the angst, the nihilism, the rage and hard edged nerves that had driven Zero to be the best warrior to ever live had died under the weight of all that pleasantness. Oh, there were still malcontents, but their gripes seemed so petty to Zero. None of them complained about their pastel existence… no, they were mostly the fools too lazy to do even the pleasant work society required of them. Some were adventure junkies, but seemed to have no thought at all for the deeper meaning of things. Zero had tried to associate with them, hoping the spirit she loved would be there, but had finally given up in disgust. Societies misfits didn't understand her any better than polite society.

Now she was gone from that time and place, back to a rawer, younger time. There would be angst, nihilism, enthusiasm and rage aplenty now. She would have a point, a purpose. If she could help her younger self defeat Sigma and get ready for the aliens early, how much better the Earth would fare! And hopefully, she could prevent the whole idiotic Dark Elf debacle. Maybe X could be spared…

Yet, part of her wanted to go home. Back to 31XX. Not for societies sake and not her own, but for her children. Zero had engendered several children as a man, and bore them as a woman. The fact that she had begun existence as a Reploid didn't matter. The new race didn't really have a name, but she supposed humans and Reploids of this time would call them cyborgs. A true, perfect fusion of man and machine, capable of reproducing with each other by a combination of classic human cells and nanities to build the Reploid components into the child in the womb. It wasn't really that much of a step in logic, when you got down to it. Reploids already had quasi-organic parts. Why not real organics?

But that was a digression from her original thought. She was going to miss her children. Two of them were estranged from her, by their own choice. One was a successful executive who considered her famous, eccentric father an embarrassment to be avoided at all costs. The other was narcissistic in the extreme. Zero's lips compressed to a line as she thought about him. The break had been as much her doing as his… she couldn't bear to be around someone so subtly destructive. Eventually, she was sure he'd be forced into counseling and mental therapy. So far, he had managed to slip by under societies radar, but that wouldn't last forever. Her other three children were a mixed bag, but good kids. One was a doctor, and he didn't have much time to spend with her, but they always had a very pleasant time when they did get together. Usually, they spent it playing Scrabble. Of her other two children, one was an accountant and the other worked at a carpet recycling plant. Neither one had gotten very far, but they were both happy and healthy, if more than a bit dull. And the grandkids were just adorable, even if they were mostly grown. What was embarrassing in a parent was cool in a grandparent, and they always loved hearing a good war story. Zero sighed, and rubbed her face for a moment. She was going to miss her grandchildren more than anything in the world…

She finally took another bite out of her ration, chewing it slowly. This ration tasted almost exactly like pork ribs in barbecue sauce, one of her favorites. It even had the 'Axl-tried-to-barbecue-and-burnt-the-edges' flavor she particularly liked. Barbecue wasn't barbecue unless you could taste some charcoal.

Finishing her ration, she frowned at the wrapper, then shrugged and threw it into a trashcan. It wasn't recyclable with current technology and she wasn't going to hang onto it for the hundreds of years it would take for that technology to come around. She grinned to herself, imagining the pained expressions her children would have worn. Throwing away something recyclable! The indecency of it!

She crossed her legs, and tried to think of a solution for her main problem. Money. Cash. Filthy Lucre. She had none of it, and her credit chips wouldn't have worked even if she had them. Which she didn't, the wardens kept them in sealed lockers. So what was she going to do for money? She tried to list her assets and skills, and came up blank. Her main skill was killing things. Zero also made a pretty fair salesperson, which was the job she usually held down when she was trying to fit in. But here and now, she didn't have any ID to prove she was either human or Reploid, so getting a job might be a bit of a challenge. One asset was her body, but… no. Just no. She was not stripping, even as a man. It was out of the question.

A thought came to her, and she snapped her fingers. Bounty hunting, of course! In this day and age, it was possible for private citizens to put out bounties on convicted criminals, provided they were under a sentence of death. Sometimes, the government did too, especially for notorious Mavericks. And of course, the Mavericks would pay bounties, but she wasn't going to work for Sigma. It might take some time and effort to get back into the groove of hunting Mavericks, but she had a weeks worth of rations. They could last two, if she tried to make them stretch.

Bouncing to her feet, Zero went to check the listings in the post office. If she recalled correctly, that was where she would find the wanted posters.

* * *

"What do you MEAN I need two pieces of ID?" She snarled over the counter at the human who was refusing to process her bounty. "I don't have any damn ID!" She leaned over the severed Reploid head of the Maverick she had hunted down. He wasn't anyone important, but three human families had identified him as the source of their pain and put a bounty on his head. Fair enough, since he'd undoubtedly killed their relatives.

"Then you'll have to get some, ma'am," the young man said with admirable calm. "Even a library card will do."

"I can't get a library card without a drivers license!" Zero raged. "And I don't have one!" He didn't say anything, but she could read the answer in his face. _Not my problem._ With a disgusted growl, she took the head and shoved it back in her bag.

"I hate all bureaucracy," Zero muttered as she stormed out. "Curse all bureaucrats. May their hair fall out, and then their teeth. May their children be incontinent unto the fourth generation. May…" The grumbled curses went on, as Zero tried to figure out where the worst part of town was. There was really only one solution to her problem, and that was false ID's. But they would want payment first, and that meant…

Zero casually joined a lineup to enter a movie theater, behind a woman with a large blue handbag slung casually over one shoulder. From most normal pickpockets, she would have been safe. From a delicate, partly organic tendril extending from Zero's wrist, she was not. Sixty dollars later, Zero walked away. That wasn't much, and she'd hit several other people before she was done, but she'd left the woman's ID and credit cards. As such thefts went, it would be painful, but not nearly as bad as if she'd just outright stolen the purse. Zero didn't like being a thief, but there wasn't much choice.

Raiding five other people in quick succession gave her nearly three hundred dollars. A Reploid nearly caught her at it, and Zero decided she had enough. If not, she could start trying again.

"Hey, miss! You want your windshield scrubbed?" That query threw Zero off guard, and she gave the old man who had asked the hairy eyeball.

"I'm not in a car." She pointed out.

"Window scrubbed?" Zero stared at him, then remembered… a lot of mental disorders were improperly understood, back in 21XX. This man was probably senile, or maybe schizophrenic or just an addict. Whatever, he wasn't playing with a full deck. She shrugged, and handed him a dollar bill. "Thankee miss."

"No problem." She kept walking until things started to look distinctly seedy. There were pawn shops, XXX video stores… yes, this was definitely the part of town Zero wanted. But how exactly did you find someone who made illegal documents, anyway? Her answer came when a young man tried to accost her.

"Hey, hot mamma! You lookin' for a fun time?" She gave him a disgusted look. He couldn't be over fifteen, and two boys behind him were laughing at them both. His buddies, she assumed. She was about to walk away, then hesitated. If this kid had any real connections, he might know…

"No. But tell me what I want, and maybe you can have a good time," she said, flashing a twenty at him, then making it disappear. The kid looked puzzled.

"What you want, hot thing?" Zero let that slide, although she did entertain a few thoughts involving her fist and his face.

"I want someone who can sell me a driver's license. You know, so I can buy beer and get into clubs."

"You shitting me?" He said suspiciously. "You don't look like no kid. You some kinda cop?" Zero's eyes hardened at that question.

"You know what I have in this bag?" She said, making the kid frown in puzzlement.

"No, hot mamma, watchu got?"

"A severed head," she said. As they looked at her in disbelief, she reached in and pulled it out, making them gasp. "Now, where do I get false ID?" She could almost see the kid doing some rapid calculations. The head was a Reploid, so she was probably a Reploid, even if she didn't look like one. She certainly wasn't a cop. She probably wasn't a Maverick, but on the other hand, she was the one with a head in a bag. The kid finally factored in everything and decided on the side of self-preservation.

"Hey, I dunno for sure right? But there's this place…" She nodded, taking his directions, then flipped out the twenty. He grabbed it and quickly walked away, his buddies following. Zero turned away, walking towards the street he'd mentioned.

Things went pretty smoothly at the false ID place. The guy who ran it took one long, hard look at her and apparently decided that whatever she was, she wasn't a cop, because he was obliging. He did clean her out of most of her money, but she walked out with a very well done driver's license in only a half hour.

With that in hand, she visited a library and signed up for a card, getting her second piece of ID. Fortunately, when Zero went back to the collection office a different person was on duty. It might have been odd, if she had suddenly given the guy from earlier the ID… although she was pretty sure he wouldn't have cared. The girl now at the desk was obliging enough, when she had the two ID cards.

"So that's twenty thousand dollars. Just sign here… how would you prefer to be paid? We have money order, check or direct deposit."

"Check, please." She would go cash that at a bank at the earliest opportunity, and start an account. Carrying around 20K in cash was out of the question. No place Zero was likely to go would take thousand dollar bills, and 20K in fifties would be obscenely bulky.

Zero smiled to herself, as she walked. Now that she had money, she could do what she'd been dying to do for ages… really cut loose and enjoy herself. The future had plenty of sybaritic amusements, of course. But they frowned on the wild extremes she went to, and all the broken furniture that inevitably resulted. Here, things were different.

It was going to be a very fun week.

* * *

"Ohhh" Axl looked at himself in a mirror, enchanted despite himself. This was the most curious piece of DNA he'd ever used. X and Zero were both watching, and Axl grinned, deliberately bouncing up and down. A part of his… her anatomy followed the movement, to Zero's delight and X's extreme embarrassment.

"Axl, stop that!" X snapped, trying to stop his blushing.

"He can keep doing it as far as I'm concerned," Zero put in with a grin.

The form Axl was wearing seemed to be a very strange combination of his own DNA, X, Zero, Spider, Cinnamon and Marino. His hair was the usual orange color, but instead of spikes, it was long and hung to his waist in a flowing stream. His eyes had changed from green to a dark red, Spiders eyes. His body armor vaguely resembled Marino, complete with free flowing boobs, but his helmet was taken from X. The armor color was white and blue, probably from Cinnamon's influence. Axl had tested everything out, and he could heal a bit.

He could also use Spider's cards, X's buster, Zero's sabre and Marino's speed. Not quite at the levels of the originals, but close. The only downside that he could see to this DNA conglomerate was that it was very female. If he wanted all the good stuff, he had to endure the chest and hips. Axl was uncomfortably aware that with the long flowing hair and feminized figure, he made an extremely cute girl.

But it was worth it. Axl twirled on his feet, snap kicking the empty air. He'd never been able to use Zero's and X's DNA properly before. It always caused errors in his system… but this combination seemed to clear all that up. It was wonderful, powerful, it was-

"Ohhh, look at THAT Marino!" Axl's eyes widened as he heard Cinnamon behind him. "I didn't know we had someone new! Hello, miss, who are-" Cinnamon stopped speaking as she looked into Axl's face. "…Axl?" A titter ran through the room, as Marino stared in surprise… then grinned very, very evilly.

"He's cute, isn't he? But… I think he needs to learn how to put on makeup!"

"M-Makeup?" Axl choked out as Cinnamon squeed and grabbed his arm.

"And a kimono! Let's put him in a kimono, Marino!"

"And make him try on some lingerie?" Zero asked hopefully, but was ignored.

"He'll be so pretty… c'mon!" Axl shouted an incoherent protest as the two girls dragged him out of the repair bay. X only shook his head… he wasn't getting involved with this… and Zero followed curiously. He was still hoping to catch a glimpse of Axl in lingerie.

As it happened, no lingerie was forthcoming, but Marino and Cinnamon did force Axl out to model a kimono for them. Armor removed and face painted… the scars outlined with gold… Axl really did look adorable. The kimono was Marino's, green silk with pink cherry blossoms and swallows. It fit Axl's new DNA form like a glove, and Zero grinned. It was easy to see whose DNA had come out on top when it came to his body.

"Argh… Zero, help me!" Axl tried to squirm away from Marino, who had a firm grip on the scruff of his neck. "Aggh!" He abruptly shifted back to his normal form… which made everyone laugh.

"You DO realize how ridiculous you look now?" Zero said with a grin, and Axl glanced in a mirror… then whined in horror. His spiky hair, abruptly deflated kimono and painted face made him look idiotic. He hesitated, then changed back, still trying to wiggle away from Marino.

"What should we do next, Marino?" Cinnamon said brightly, and hugged Axl, who turned brick red. "We're just having fun Axl You'll do this for us, won't you?"

"Uh uh… sure." Axl stammered, overcome with Cinnamon's cuteness. Zero ogled the scene… until Marino lightly smacked him. She could guess what he was thinking, and it involved lesbian porn.

"Well, next, I was thinking we could put him in some of my skirts and jeans." Marino said with a grin. "Then… swimsuits!"

"What? Noooo!" Axl was dragged back into the change room to the sound of feminine giggling, and Zero grinned. This was going to be a very entertaining evening.

* * *

At a Maverick Fortress...

Zero watched a Maverick walk by on his patrol, and smiled in pleasure. She was clinging to the ceiling above him, and there was little chance he would see her… the chameleon power she was using saw to that. It was a joy to finally use her abilities to their full extent again.

She had taken the peace bond off her abilities earlier in the day. In the future, she needed to keep her military abilities inactive at almost all times. The instant she activated them, she radiated a powerful energy signature that the police of her time easily picked up. If she did that in a city, Zero would suddenly be deluged by very polite inquiries as to whatever could be wrong? Explaining that she was just having fun climbing a building would be accepted with equally polite silence, but she could hear the underlying message about her sanity. And activating her abilities had another downside. When they were peace bonded, legally, her combat model status didn't matter. When they were active, though, things that would be regarded as mischief for a civilian became more serious. It was like the difference between simple assault and assault with a deadly weapon. When her peace bond was off, Zero was a walking, talking, deadly weapon.

Zero had always been very careful not to abuse her powers, in that future time. She had been allowed to keep her DNA copying center, her armor and everything else because she was the great hero of the final war. But if Zero started using them for crime, there was every possibility someone would have reconsidered. Having her powers taken away would have been worse than neutering… Zero was sure she would never have been able to bear it. So they had stayed safely under peace bond, letting her use only simple applications.

Now, though, things were different. She slowly crept along the ceiling, taking care to make no sound and not to move too swiftly. The chameleon cloak was a great thing, but it wasn't outright invisibility. She DID have an invisibility power, but it drained energy at an appalling rate. Everything was a trade-off.

Zero could have blown right into the Maverick base, in a frontal assault. A few rounds of bounty hunting had given her a feel for how powerful the Reploids of this time were, and they were even more fragile than she had thought. She'd lived through the changes, but they had been so gradual she hadn't realized how immense the gulf over a thousand years really was. Having it shoved into her face was rather disconcerting. Still, if she'd taken the base in a frontal assault, her real quarry might have escaped. That was unacceptable.

Rage, raw and red as lava, welled up in her throat. How she despised the man she was hunting tonight. She hated him more than Sigma, even. After a while, Sigma had seemed more like a force of nature than anything Reploid, and at least Sigma believed in what he was doing, even if he was a lunatic. The cretin she was seeking now wasn't mad, wasn't infected, and believed in nothing but himself and his own glory. He was just beginning his career, now, with the Mavericks. After Sigma was dead, he would remake himself and become respectable for a time… until he backstabbed everyone in the world. So much suffering, and all for one mans love of power. How she despised him.

Slowly, she made her way through the base, hunting, searching. It wasn't easy. She knew his general location, where the personal quarters were, but nothing specific. She had to carefully open doors, trying not to disturb the occupants. She had a very unpleasant moment at one point, when she opened a door to gasps and sighs. Fortunately, the occupants were too involved in their pleasure to notice her soft interruption. Zero had shut that door very quickly.

Finally, though, she found him. She slipped into the room on silent feet, closing the door behind her and glancing around curiously. The room told her only what she already knew… that the owner loved himself. There were several framed pictures that made him look quite wise, although not as much as later ones would. He was still young, and it showed.

Zero stepped up to the bed, her armor slowly shifting from red to blue. Her red armor actually looked like nothing more than a red fabric jumpsuit, with metal gloves and boots. It had been designed to give maximum protection while facilitating the piloting of Er-ships, so it wasn't as powerful as her time could have made it. Not that it mattered, this far into the past.

She completed her shift, and smiled, pulling a lock of her newly darkened hair forward for inspection. She was using the purest of X's DNA to do this. It wasn't necessary, but it seemed only right, since he was the one who would have suffered the most for this mans greed.

Zero looked down at the sleeping Reploid, and abruptly punched him in the stomach, feeling the metal shatter under the force of the blow. She wanted him conscious, for the end. He awoke with a choked off scream, and stared at her in utter shock. For all his genius at weaseling out of things, this was an assault he could never have foreseen, and she smiled brutally at the horrified confusion on his face. Then she aimed her buster at his face.

"Hello and goodbye, Dr. Weil."

* * *

Zero watched, utterly satisfied, as Mavericks tried to put out the flames that had engulfed their base and figure out what had happened.

With Weil dead, she'd seen no reason to bother with further concealment. Blasting her way straight out had been fun, especially when she'd used a DNA conglomerate of several fire based Reploids.

Her DNA copying centres were far more advanced than Axl's, and had the ability to combine the DNA of more than one person into ultimate forms. The greatest of all those forms was the one she called Angelus… it was a conglomerate of every single piece of DNA in her archives, which carried thousands of samples. But Angelus was an energy sink, and she couldn't maintain it for more than ten minutes without severe repercussions. Her usual conglomerates were more selective, between five to ten people in each. The one she had given to Axl was unique in that she hadn't designed it for combat. It was an epitaph to her fallen friends.

Zero sighed. She doubted she'd be able to keep them safe this time anymore than she'd been able to in her own timeline. Yes, she had already destroyed a major threat. But so? In the slightly trite but all too true words of Spider, there was always some damn thing. Her meddling in the timeline only meant there would be a different damn thing.

Spider was going to be interesting. Zero slowly drummed her fingers against her hip, considering him. The Spider she and X had destroyed in Giga city was not actually the real Spider. In her timeline, they'd discovered that a year later when they were pursuing a Maverick near Las Vegas. Spider had been on the same trail, and they'd run into him by accident. That meeting had almost been fatal for the black garbed bounty hunter, to his shocked surprise. Zero still remembered his complete bafflement when she had held him down with a beam sabre at his throat. Axl's furious questions and X's hurt expression had only confused him more.

Luckily for Spider, he'd had solid, incontrovertible proof that he was not the droid they were looking for. The Luxor casino held onto it's security data for a full year, in case of investigation, and they had been more than willing to replay it for X and Zero. Spider had been busy playing poker while they had been fighting his double in Giga city. He'd been winning, too.

Spider had never joined the Hunters, but Zero and Axl had joined him for more than one vacation in Vegas. The friendship had been fun, and had soon graduated to mutual favors. Sometimes, they helped Spider with a bounty, and sometimes he helped out them. Zero winced as she remembered how he had died. It hadn't been nearly as dramatic as his double's faked death in Giga city, but it had been far more real. Just one of those damn things…

Watching the Maverick fortress burn down was getting boring. Zero turned away, and teleported out, to Las Vegas. She had 20K in the bank account and Spider was there. He might not know her yet, but that wouldn't take long to fix, and then he could help her spend it.

Fun wasn't really much fun unless there was someone to be fun with.


	3. Chapter 3

Zero sipped her coffee, rolling it in her mouth and savoring the taste of real, genuine coffee beans. In 31XX, caffeine had been entirely eliminated from everyone's diet, and the 'coffee' they had tasted pretty much the same, but… she'd always been able to tell the difference. Her doctor child had always insisted it was psychological. Maybe that was so, but it was good to drink genuine coffee again.

The newspaper, on the other hand, was simply annoying. The way she had to pull it open, fold it, and refold it to eat, drink and read simultaneously made her wish for a palm held news viewer. That, she could have set down right beside her plate and read as she ate. She actually did have one, back at her home in the little area that had been brought with her, but without the communication uplinks that supported it, it was useless.

Then she blinked as she read a news article, and winced. Someone had discovered her little area… but it wasn't nearly as little as she had thought. Her eyes widened as she read the article. Four miles, perfectly circular…? She must have been near the outside edge of that circle. Zero silently thanked whatever deity governed such things that the boy who had brought her rations had made it out. The fact that she'd been on the edge of the phenomenon had probably been the only thing that let him escape it. She wondered what the people of this time would make of the technology in her home. Most of it was highly advanced yet fairly basic for her time, so they might be able to take it apart and learn something.

Zero quickly riffled through the newspaper, looking for anything else that was related to her. She groaned, then sighed as she found one thing. There was a strange blight affecting trees near her circle, caused by a most peculiar beetle. No one was coming right out and identifying it as extraterrestrial, just mumblings about unknown genus and possible mutations.

_Ju-Ju__ bugs._ Zero grimaced slightly. She'd had all the time in the world to look things up and had been tremendously interested in the natural selection process that had produced Earth's new fauna. So she knew what was about to happen. Ju-Ju bugs loved Broad-leaf bushes, which weren't too invasive but would eventually spread, competing amiably with Terran bushes. Broad-leaf bushes had naturally defenses against Ju-Ju bugs, though, and rarely died from their infestations. Ju-Ju bugs also loved Aspens, Oaks and Poplars, though. Fortunately, they were rather finicky and wouldn't go for other trees, but those three were about to get it in the neck. The lumber industry was not going to be happy, and the change was going to cause a ripple effect in Earth's species. There was no way around it, though. Natural selection would do its work, as always. Other Terran trees would step forward to fill the gap.

Zero smiled slightly, thinking about her flowers. They were called Demi-flowers, because they looked like half a real flower. They came in colors ranging from light blue to jet black to brilliant red, and she was certain they would soon be exploding into the world, even if no one had noticed it yet. Demi-flowers followed the simplest of evolutionary strategies… reproduce, reproduce and reproduce some more. Their life cycle only took four months, and a single Demi-flower would produce thousands of seedlings.

It needed to, too. The slightly alien bio-chemistry was quite compatible with Terran animals, and not just compatible… delicious. Rabbits in particular would love them, and Zero was sure deer, moose and other species that had died out in his time would find them just as tasty. And some honey producers would be a little surprised when their honey took on a new taste. There were many species of insects attracted to Demi-flowers, bees among them. In her time, Demi-honey had been a galactic staple. Demi-flower pollen made it unusually sweet, compared to other flowers. She idly wondered if anyone would think of raising Demi-flowers for the bees, the way they did in her time… huge plantations of glorious little flowers, sometimes shuffling around…

Zero put down the newspaper, and concentrated on finishing her breakfast. Chicken eggs were gone, in her time, but dozens of different alien creatures had filled that part of the breakfast table. If anything, 21XX eggswere rather bland to her. She made a mental note to stick to waffles and pancakes. Those were better, especially with real cream and fruits.

She glanced around, smiling at the décor. She was in the Pyramid Café, at the Luxor casino, Las Vegas. From what she recalled, this was one of Spider's favorite haunts. She might have to hang out for a week or two, but he would eventually be here, at the poker table or losing money on baccarat. Zero grinned at the thought. Spider only wasted money on baccarat when he was completely wasted, and he'd managed to blow his nights winnings on the poker table that way more than once. Fortunately for him, even drunk, he never went into his savings.

Zero slowly stood up, leaving a tip, and went to the cash register to pay her bill. Soon, she was strolling through the casino, admiring the ancient Egyptian decorations. It was really quite glorious and looked authentic, although Zero naturally couldn't be sure about that. She amused herself trying to identify some of the status. Isis? Anubis?

She suddenly stopped, surprised, as she spotted the bounty hunter. Spider was leaning against a statue and reading a magazine. Zero wondered if he was meeting someone here, and suddenly grinned. If that was his plan, she was going to make it her!

"Hi Spider." She said brightly, stepping up to him. Spider lowered the magazine, then blinked at her, slightly confused. He obviously had no idea who she was, and was confused by her costume. Zero had found being mistaken for a human rather tiresome, in some ways, and her ordinary clothing was limited anyway. So she was back to wearing her jumpsuit. The metal gloves hinted that she was no human, despite the strangeness of what looked like a fabric jumpsuit. Zero smiled at him, and he smiled back, almost reluctantly.

"Hello… do I know you?" He tilted his head slightly to one side, and Zero shrugged.

"Sort of yes, sort of no. It's a very long story… perhaps we could discuss it over dinner?" She smiled sweetly at him, and his returning smile had a hint of relief at the thought. Zero suspected he badly wanted to get rid of her, probably because he was indeed meeting someone here. He took her hand, and gently kissed the back of it. Zero blushed, wondering where Spider had picked up that courtly gesture… but she definitely liked it.

"I'd love to. Seven o'clock, at Isis?" Zero blinked, a little surprised. Isis was the gourmet restaurant at the Luxor, and usually required a reservation… how would Spider swing a table? And the food was very expensive. Then she mentally shrugged. He probably knew best.

"That sounds wonderful. I'll see you then." Zero smiled, and slowly walked away, conscious of him watching her. Spider was obviously aware she was more than a simple Reploid or human, and his nature was naturally curious. He would want to know more. She would have to decide how much to tell him…

* * *

When Zero had left her enclosure, her prison cell, she'd left many things behind. Most were completely unnecessary and too bulky to carry. Furniture, for example. A cooler, full of ice, drinks, and sweet little snacks she had purchased with her prison credits. Various entertainments. A holographic generator, a VR simulator, all the things she would have enjoyed in her own home. Normally a prisoner on Earth would not have been allowed those comforts, but Zero was a special, minimum security prisoner who had opted for Earth. Special arrangements had been made, partly out of fear for her. Cyborgs could die in a variety of ways, but the most common was suicide. After a few hundred years of life, people seemed to get tired and decide to move on. The usual lifespan was around three hundred, and Zero was a thousand. At her age, boredom wasn't just a nuisance; it was a threat to life.

But even over a thousand years, basic personality doesn't much change. Zero could often be impulsive and more than a little impractical. In her haste to explore, she had left behind some items that would have been useful. She had also left behind something vitally important, on a personal level. Zero hadn't brought her datapad, since the network link that would have kept her in touch with galactic news was inoperable. She had completely forgotten the archive of canned personal messages her family had sent to her. Those messages could be run in two-D format on the datapad, or that the pad could be hooked to a small holographic generator that would create a lifelike simulacrum of the recording. That hologram could be as tiny as a faerie from myth, or up to lifesized, depending on Zero's mood. In a week or two, Zero would have remembered them, regretted her mistake and gone to look for them. But for now, she did not.

Most of the messages only referred to her as Mom or Dad. Her children were all adults, but they were still her children and using her given name would have been completely unnatural for them. Her grandchildren, adult and child, called her Grandmammy or Grandpappy, depending on which sex their parent identified her as. A few dispensed with the distinction entirely, and called her Grandparry. In a future where everyone could switch sexes, and many did, gender-neutral words were coming back into style.

But one message did use Zero's name. A message from her executive daughter, it was not a kind thing to listen to. She had kept it mostly because she had a bad habit of keeping data until even her datapad's capacious storage was full. Eventually, it would have been deleted, but here and now, it was still available for recall. And the datapad was extremely easy to use. It held no sensitive information, so Zero had never bothered with any protections or encryptions. It held saved news reports, data files from scholarly publications, hundreds of books, saved fanfiction… and most damningly of all, from the perspective of keeping her origins secret, it had a date function. A fact Zero had entirely forgotten.

"Hey, Zero!" Axl stumbled to a halt in front of the red Hunter. Zero had his back to a wall and was leaning against it, his arms crossed. "What's with the long face?" Zero was looking at nothing, yet seemed grim. He slowly glanced over at Axl.

"X is visiting Alia." He said. That brief sentence was enough to wilt Axl in his tracks.

Alia was human, but no one had seen anything wrong with her and X getting involved. X being who he was, he wasn't about to be concerned with Alia's frailer body. And there was always the simple fact that X fought constantly. When someone brought up the possible difference in their lifespans, X had only joked about her outliving him if the Mavericks kept plugging away at it. Surely the Mavericks would get lucky someday.

It had all turned distinctly unfunny a year ago. Alia had been feeling tired and weak for months, before she finally passed out at her station. They had rushed her to the hospital, and she had been diagnosed with leukemia.

After that, there were no more jokes. At first, everyone in HQ had come and brought flowers, candy and well wishes. Now, a year later, Alia's condition had deteriorated severely and the people who visited her were mostly X, Axl, Zero and her own family.

"Does she like the game I gave her?" Axl tried to stay cheerful, although it was hard. Zero managed a thin smile.

"X said she loves it. Keeps her busy." Hospital stays were insanely boring, as almost every Hunter knew. They had all had the unpleasant experience of being stuck in the repair bay for days with nothing to do but twiddling thumbs. Alia had sometimes been allowed to go home, but the cancer just kept progressing. She had been through dozens of treatments, but none seemed to work for very long.

The two of them fell silent for a moment. They didn't go with X to see Alia very often… they were deeply in love, still, and needed private time. Instead, Axl and Zero went together at different times. They would be going to see her tomorrow, but it was still depressing to think about.

_Zero, there's a message for you from the research team looking into that strange circle. They want to talk to you right away, preferably in person._ Zero blinked as Layer's voice came over his communicator. The Hunters had been interested in that strange phenomenon, but only in a peripheral, 'is this going to matter to us?' way. What could they want with him?

"I wonder what that's about?" Zero mused, then glanced at Axl. "Want to come along?" Axl brightened.

"Sure!" That sounded more interesting than hanging around the HQ. They got the address off of Layer, and did a quick teleport over.

"Maverick Hunter Zero! I was so hoping you would come!" The man running the project, a tall scientist with a name tag reading "Martin Cortez" on his chest smiled brightly at them, offering Zero a hand. They shook hands, quickly, then he shook hands with Axl. "I'm Dr. Cortez."

"I'm Axl." Axl offered with a grin. He wasn't nearly as well known as Zero, and he didn't expect people to recognize him on sight, although some did.

"Sir!" A woman bounced into the lobby. She was short, with bright gold hair and laughing eyes. She was also wearing a lab coat, but the nametag read Karen Delacroix. "We've found some really interesting…" Her attention was diverted to Zero, and her eyes widened as she made a small 'oh' sound. "Wow! We should show him message 3 first!"

"What?" Dr. Cortez frowned, confused, and she gestured rapidly.

"Oh look at him sir! He really MUST be that mans' father! The resemblance is just amazing!"

"Say what?" Zero said, taken aback, as Axl stared at her with wide-eyes. "Uh, I happen to be a Reploid, I'm not anyone's father." That was a truly bizarre notion. The woman bounced on her feet, and gripped his arm, pulling him into another room.

"But you might be!" She ignored the garbled protests of her fellow doctor, dragging a bemused Zero over to… he wasn't sure what. It looked like a small hand held device connected to a silvery octagon. They were both lying on the floor, with plenty of room around them. Technicians were working on something else, a partly disassembled box. "We found all these things inside that strange circle, in a little home. The circle is really odd… we took core samples, and we think it extends deep into the earth, maybe two miles deep if it's a perfect circle. But anyway, we found this-"

"Karen, do you MIND?" Dr. Cortez interrupted, his face slightly red. "I AM in charge here."

"Oh, pooh." Karen said, completely unrepentant. But she stepped back with a smile, and gave Axl an urchin grin as he giggled. "Alright, you tell him, you old fogy."

"Thank you," he said sourly, then cleared his throat. "While we are not sure what caused the circular phenomenon, we are certain of what it did. The circular area was sent back in time from the year 31XX." That surprised both Zero and Axl, who looked at the equipment with far more respect.

"How do you know?" Axl asked curiously, and Dr. Cortez smiled, gesturing at the small datapad.

"That has a date function. It also has a treasure trove of information on it, although not much of it will be too useful… mostly books, history, news articles-"

"I still think we should take the books to a publisher," Karen volunteered with a grin. "We could all be stinking, filthy rich! There are hundreds of them, and a lot of them aren't too dated." Dr. Cortez gave her a quelling look, then cleared his throat again.

"AS I was saying, there were also, ahem, personal messages. This seems to be a bit like a PDA… most of the messages were not addressed by name, except for one. We would like to play that for you-"

"No, no no! Play message three first!" Karen said to their assistant, who hesitated, looking between the doctors. Dr. Cortez heaved a deep sigh.

"Oh, fine, play your favorite message," he said, resigned. Zero and Axl both stared as the hologram was activated.

It was of a young man, or at least, he appeared to be young. He had very short blond hair and bright blue eyes, and Zero blinked as he saw the resemblance. This young man had a much larger nose, and he wasn't nearly as handsome, but anyone looking at him and Zero together would think they were related.

"Hi, parental unit!" The hologram spoke cheerfully, and Zero was impressed with its quality. It was as if the man was standing in the room with them. "How's prison life suiting you? Mom always did say you were trouble; it was what she loved about you. What's Earth like? I've always wanted to visit it, but no tourist spots, alas! You might be interested in what Sibi's up to, she…" The rest of the message was full of amusing anecdotes about his children, his work… apparently, this man was a doctor at a hospital… and finally… "I love you, dad, even if you're insane. As soon as you get out, look me up… the kids all want to see you." The message shut off, and the hologram disappeared.

"So why are you playing this for me? I admit he looks like me, but…" Zero trailed off, unable to imagine how he could be someone's father, even far in the future. And the message had been to a mother… Dr. Cortez gestured to the assistant, and a second message ran. It was a beautiful young woman with thick, lustrous brown hair, wearing what Axl thought was probably a very stylish dress for the future. The styles had changed so much he couldn't be sure… the colors of it seemed to shift as she moved. The expression on her face was severe.

"Zero, you are an utter disgrace," she got to the point immediately, and Zero stiffened as Axl gasped. "I can't believe I have you for a father! You are-" The rest was a harangue about how bad it made her look at work, and Zero snorted in disgust.

"Can you shut that off? She's seriously annoying." The technician did that with a slightly relieved expression. It was painful to watch, a little like a train wreck. "So that's why you wanted me… do you really think they could somehow be my kids?"

"We suspect so," Dr. Cortez replied. "Not only that, you seemed to be, um, in prison. All the recent messages seem to be sympathetic ones wishing you well in your, ah, incarceration. One of them mentions stealing an Er-ship to try and explore something called the Milaunder Cluster. We're not sure what that's all about. The messages also refer to the owner as both mother and father, which is a bit puzzling. Perhaps some kind of sex changing ability"

"But we think the owner of all this is probably here!" Karen butted in, smiling brightly. "The house showed signs of habitation, and we found footprints from it leading out into the forest." Axl suddenly gasped, and gripped Zero's arm.

"Zero, Rose… Roze! Spell it with a Z and it's an anagram of your name!" Fairly obvious, when he pointed it out. Zero's eyes widened. "And she looked like you!" Axl had mentioned that when he described her, but had assumed it was pure coincidence. "And that's how she knew all about Lumine and the program and…" Axl suddenly sobered. "What she said about you killing me…" Zero winced at the thought. He hadn't liked hearing that piece of information, especially since Axl was certain Rose had been right. And the research scientists had found traces of the download she had destroyed, on checking Axl's systems.

"You know this person?" Dr. Cortez brightened. "We desperately want to speak to him… her… some of this technology is so advanced, we can't make head or tail of it. Even something as simple as that!" Zero followed his gesture to a chunk of metal setting on a table. It seemed like it had been torn from something else. "It's made of a completely unknown material. No weapon we have can make a dent in it."

"And we really want to see what advances there have been in Reploid technology," Karen said brightly. "If she's even a Reploid at all, since all these messages are from children and grandchildren! Maybe she's something else entirely." Zero couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"That'd make me avoid you, that's for sure." He said dryly, confusing both the doctors. "Nevermind. If we see her, we'll let you know, but we're too busy to go hunting for her."

"That's fine," Karen answered, smiling. "We were expecting this person might make contact with you. Please, let us know if she does!"

"We will," Zero promised, and started out… but Axl lingered a bit to talk to Karen. After a few moments, Axl came out beaming. Zero blinked at him. "What, did you ask her on a date?"

"Yes, and she said yes!" He said cheerfully. "For Friday evening. Isn't that great?"

"Ha!" Zero grinned. "Well, she seems like your type. Good luck on that. Let's teleport back…"

Once they were back at Maverick Hunter HQ, something occurred to Axl. He hesitated a moment, then looked at Zero.

"Z… remember how he said that material was so strong, nothing we had could make a dent in it?"

"Yeah, why?" Zero tilted his head, wondering what Axl's point was. Axl looked very serious.

"It looked like it was tore off something, to me. By an explosion. What could have done that?" Zero was briefly silent, then sighed.

"You would have to mention that…" Suddenly, the future did not look very bright.


	4. Chapter 4

Zero dipped out a tiny bit of Beluga caviar, spreading it sparingly on a piece of toast. A few chopped eggs, capers and chives joined it, and she slowly ate it with immense enjoyment. In her time, the cyborg race had colonized hundreds of planets. Each had very interesting native lifeforms, many of which were edible… and most of which tasted utterly foul. Biochemistry was much easier to satisfy than the elusive quality of taste. But with hundreds of worlds to pick from, a dozen species had filled the caviar nitch. Not the original fish, though. This was the first time Zero had ever tasted the original caviar, which had disappeared along with Earth's devastated ecosystem. And it was every bit as good as she had expected.

She grinned to herself as she remembered Spider's expression when she ordered it. She had ordered an ounce of it, at current market prices… which were about a hundred and fifty five dollars an ounce. That was extravagant, even for the flamboyant bounty hunter. She'd given him a sweet smile, took his hand, and quietly told him they could split the bill. He'd gallantly, (if a trifle weakly) offered to pay it all, but she had insisted. Zero was sure Spider was secretly very relieved, especially when she also ordered a bottle of ice wine, to complement the caviar.

So now they were sharing caviar, sipping ice wine and chatting quietly. It was light conversation, about their preferences in books… although Zero had some trouble keeping that going properly. Spider liked the same kind of books she did, but he had naturally never heard of most of the books she knew well. They hadn't been written yet.

Midway through the appetizer, they ordered the main course… Salmon Nicoise for Zero, and butter poached Lobster over Truffled Risotto for Spider. They also decided on the dessert, Crepes Suzzette. Authentic salmon was something else Zero hadn't tasted since before the final war. They had depended too much on vulnerable spawning sites, and it had ended badly for the fragile fish. Lobster, on the other hand, had come through swimmingly. Pun intended.

"So, Rose, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Spider finally said with a small smile, his red eyes twinkling. "And how you know me, sort of." Zero grinned, remembering her comment to him earlier.

She's been considering what to tell him all day, and had finally decided to tell him almost everything. Not everything… that would have taken far too long, she had a thousand years of history… but the main points. She wanted, needed someone to confide in, someone to help her hammer out some real plans. She had a few vague ideas, but eliminating Sigma permanently was going to be a real challenge, even for her. His ability to bail out of bodies was a real problem.

"Mmm… well, you see, I met someone who was pretending to be you last year." She smiled, amused, and ate another piece of toast and caviar, this time with sour cream and chives. "In Giga City, during the Rebellion. You might want to watch yourself a bit… X and Zero think you're a scumbag." Spider was too suave to choke on his wine, but he swallowed a much larger mouthful than most people did of expensive, sweet ice wine. "They also think you're Redips."

"…Who?" Spider frowned. "Wait, that's my name spelt backward…" Zero smiled, pleased with how quick he was. It had taken them much longer to clue in… but then, Spider had a few more clues than they had.

"Exactly. Here, it went like this…" Zero quickly outlined the whole situation for her fascinated audience. She didn't much conceal her part in it… it was quite clear, from her story, that she'd fought beside X. "…So the short part is, they think you're scum and they'll try to kill you on sight."

"Wonderful," Spider said with a small sigh. "I suppose I'll have to contact them." He had no desire to be on the Hunter hit list. Although… "Who are you? A Hunter?" His face was smooth, professionally bland, but his eyes were puzzled. Her story only made sense if she were, but how would she be speaking to him now if that were so?

"Well, yes, I was." Zero said, then hesitated. It sounded stupid, but… "I'm from the future. The year 31XX, in fact… and I'm Zero." Spider looked at her expressionlessly for a moment, then his gaze dropped down to her chest. It wasn't a lingering look, or anything uncouth, but Zero got the message. "I know, I know, but when you're a thousand years old sexual identity looses its importance."

"I'll take your word for it," Spider said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "I don't suppose you have any proof of this?" Zero smiled slowly at that gentle challenge. She reached over, resting her hand in Spiders'.

"Well, there is a strange circle of land with my name on it… but if you want more direct proof…" She said lightly, and Spider suddenly went utterly still under her hand. She smiled as he stared down… at the tiny, semi-organic tendrils that had extruded from her flesh, and were delicately caressing his wrist. As he watched, the tendrils disappeared, swallowed up into her body.

"How did you do that?" Spider said with admirable calm. Some Reploids had tentacles, but as part of their design. Not forming themselves directly from their flesh. Zero shrugged.

"My body is saturated with nanotech, more advanced than anything you have now. Reforming myself isn't difficult… although a full sex change takes a day." Spider took that outrageous statement with remarkable calm.

"I see," he said, trying another piece of caviar. His expression was very serious as he asked his next question. "What is the future like?" Zero paused, thinking. How should she answer that?

"In 31XX… frankly, it's a paradise. X would love it, although our environmental conservation techniques would probably horrify him." Zero smiled with amusement at the thought. The future societies method of dealing with alien ecosystems was to engineer desirable food plants so they could survive the basic environment… heat, oxygen levels, etc. Then they released the flora and fauna, and stood back with a notebook to watch what happened. That was usually a quick demise for all the introduced species, but then they would take the data, reengineer the species and try again. About half ended up being accepted, in the end. "I was in jail when that circle happened, actually. I stole an Er-ship to go exploring." That had been stupid, and she'd known it, but it had also been fun. Zero sighed, and looked down into her wineglass. "I'm going to miss my kids." That startled Spider.

"Kids? Aren't you a Reploid?" That was puzzling. Zero shook her head with a smile.

"No, not anymore. Reploids and humans don't really exist anymore, in 31XX." Zero took a sip of her wine, then frowned. "I suppose it would be possible to shut off the nanites and produce a real human fetus, or build a Reploid… but why bother? They'd just be transferred later. We call ourselves Terrans now, as a race."

"I see. Well, do you have any words of wisdom from the future?" Spider asked with a smile, eyes twinkling. Zero took his hand in a tight grip, and looked at him earnestly.

"Only one… five years from now, in August, in the history I knew, you would have been taking a monorail in Detroit. I don't know where you were going or why, but that monorail derailed. Just… stupid maintenance issues that somehow slipped through the cracks. And everyone aboard died." She squeezed his hand, making him wince faintly at the strength of her grip. "Don't be there this time." Spider was briefly silent, shocked by this revelation of his future death and how it would have happened.

"I won't," he finally murmured, squeezing her hand back. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, and Zero felt a faint thrill of excitement. Spider was really quite sexy, and it had been a while…

The waiter… Zero wasn't sure what else to call him, although she was sure there was some kind of fancy name for the position, in a restaurant like this… brought the main course. Zero listened, interested, as he told them a bit about the dishes. She had received this kind of personal attention before… the dining experience hadn't changed much… but it was always a pleasure.

"Tell me… what happens with Sigma?" Spider asked her curiously. "What are the main events?" Zero considered that, then gave him a rundown of the main points.

"Well, there are several more wars and incidents with Sigma before he's finally destroyed entirely. Then, after that, a lunatic named Dr. Weil starts causing trouble. We were trying to make a new kind of power source, and cyber elves and the mother elf were created… he put a curse on the mother elf, so she became the dark elf and… it is NOT funny." She gave Spider a glare, as he tried to control his expression. Then she sighed. "I know, it sounds stupid. Actually, it was stupid. But anyway, X sacrificed himself to seal in the dark elf. I was put into stasis to… purge me of a virus. Anyway, when I was finally reactivated I had amnesia. Eventually, Dr. Weil was destroyed." She skipped over the whole scenario with Neo Arcadia. It didn't seem worth mentioning, in retrospect. "For maybe a hundred years, there was peace… then the Enemy came. Aliens who wanted to reformat Earth for themselves, they started trying to exterminate us. The war that followed was more vicious than you could possibly imagine. We finally won, but it took maybe ten years to throw them off Earth… then another hundred of warfare in space to completely destroy them."

"You… killed them all?" Spider said, a tiny bit shocked. Zero grinned ferally.

"Why not? They tried to kill us. Actually, we would have spared them if they had surrendered, but they never would. Not even when we had one of their planets at our mercy. Even then, they wouldn't speak to us… we still don't know much about them, culturally." Zero snorted. "Not that we care." After the attempt the Enemy had made to utterly destroy them, no one on Earth had the slightest amount of compassion for the aliens. "As for me ending up in a prison on Earth, galactic society has been at peace for maybe four hundred years. I sometimes make trouble, just for the hell of it."

"I see." Spider gently turned the conversation to other things. Zero chatted about life in the future, and Spider told her some stories about his times as a bounty hunter. She'd heard most of the stories before, but that was fine… it had been so long, they were new again. Although Spider was horrified to find out that in the future, caffeine would be no more.

To her delight, when the meal was coming to a close, they cooked the Crepes Suzzette right beside the table. She had enjoyed them before, but never seen them made, and they were a flambé, it seemed. Zero ate them slowly, drinking the last of the ice wine.

"Wonderful," she sighed. They split the bill, which had come to nearly four hundred dollars, and left an ample tip for the good service. It was still a hefty bill for each of them, but not as painful as either one of them paying the whole thing.

"So, do you play poker?" Spider asked innocently, and Zero smiled.

"Not really… I'm not quite sure of the rules." She gently touched his arm. "Could you teach me?"

"I would be glad to." Spider smiled, tucking her hand into his arm and leading her to the gaming tables.

Several hours later, Spider was bemused. They had left the poker room after she had won several thousand dollars, from a combination of skill and luck. Now they were looking at the statues and other beautiful features of the Luxor as they walked back to her room.

"You don't know the rules?"

"Beginners luck," Zero said serenely, then smiled at Spider innocently. "You surely don't think I would lie about my experience?" Spider considered that, then smiled slowly.

"It occurs to me that after a thousand years, if you've managed to avoid playing poker, you must have led quite a sheltered life."

"That could be, too," she admitted with a small grin. "Perhaps I could make it up to you?"

"Ah? How so?" Spider stopped, and turned her towards him. She smiled sweetly, and touched his cheek.

"Oh, I can think of a way…" They kissed, briefly, before continuing to walk to her room.

Some things could not be done in public, after all.

* * *

The next morning, she and Spider were eating at the Pyramid Café when Zero got a particularly rude shock.

She was reading the newspaper, trying to catch up on current events, and Spider was using a PDA to check his messages. He looked up, startled, as she nearly snorted her coffee. Then blinked as she began to quietly swear.

"What's wrong?" He tilted his head, then blinked as she pushed the newspaper towards him. He regarded it for a long moment, then grinned.

"Not the most flattering picture of you. Who is that Reploid you're hanging off of?" Zero glared at him, but couldn't dispute his assessment. The security cameras had caught a picture of her speaking to Douglas, and she looked particularly vacant as she giggled over something he had said.

"That's Douglas. But look at the article!" Spider read it, then shook his head. It included all the salient points about her, the circle that had brought her forward in time, and brightly suggested that anyone who saw her contact a hotline specifically set up for that purpose. "Well, ptth on them. I'll do a physical change later, but for now…" Her DNA copying centres could remain operative for hours at a time… even a full day, if the DNA wasn't too taxing. Zero quickly dispensed with all the curlicues, and assumed a very simple form based on Marino's DNA. Long, green hair reached her waist, and her features were suddenly softer and more feminine. Spider blinked at the abrupt change, then grinned.

"Well, that should solve the problem," he observed, setting the paper down.

"Until I can do a more physical change," Zero agreed, nodding. Given some time, she could darken her hair and alter her features and bearing. "I'm an idiot, though. I left my datapad there!" A horrible thought occurred to her. "That had all my personal messages on it… they must know who I am." The article did not actually state who she was, probably because that information would have been entirely too weird for the public. But they had to know, if they were going to so much trouble to find her. "Oh, wonderful."

"Well, why don't you just go speak to them?" Spider asked reasonably. "Or do you have other plans?" A grin tugged at her lips.

"Oh, indeed I do. I want to get plastered." Spider blinked at that. "I want to have a rip, roaring good time. I want to be in a brawl, I want to go kick Sigma's ass through a wall, I want to play cards with you and spend all my money. Basically, I want to do what I want… at least for a while." She swallowed the last of her coffee. "Maybe I'll grace them with my presence in a month or two. Maybe."

"That sounds like fun. Would you like some company for it?" Spider was flush with money, too, and had no objections to her plans. Even the ones for Sigma. He was willing to bet there was no place in the world safer than beside Zero's side. Zero smiled slowly.

"I would love company." It was what she had been hoping for.


	5. Chapter 5

"Time to have that brawl," Zero said with a cheerful smile. Spider chuckled softly, shaking his head, swallowing a glass of brandy. They were both already plastered.

They were in a Reploid bar. It wasn't officially Reploids only, but in real life, people had ways to discriminate. Any human who came in here would get the worst service in the world, and the cold shoulder from all the other patrons. If they were stupid enough to persist, they might even get something unsavory slipped into their drink. Reploids could tolerate things humans couldn't, so it would be easy for the bartender to protest that it was an honest mistake.

There had been some confusion about Zero's status when she walked through the door. The bartender had finally decided in her favor… probably because Zero's slightly altered form was even more feminine than her usual one. She had decided to keep her height and build the same, but had darkened her hair to jet black, and made her features gentler and sweeter. Really, in the classical terms of beauty, she was far more pretty now. And she had also come in on Spider's arm, and he was most definitely a Reploid.

Zero was already quite drunk, and so was a lot of the crowd. She was sure she'd have an opportunity to start a fight soon. Someone was sure to…

Zero stood up, stretching slowly. She was wearing a tightly clinging t-shirt, so that made her assets move in a fascinating way. She slowly walked up to the bar, a little unsteadily, to get another drink. As she stood against the bar, someone groped her ass. _Ah. Score!_

A quick elbow to the chest laid him out, to the laughter of the other patrons. But the perpetrator, a Reploid at least twice her size, stumbled to his feet with an angry curse. Zero only smiled contemptuously, and turned back to the bar.

"You bitch!" He lunged at her, and she dodged easily, kicking him in the chest so hard he fell back and landed on another table, completely destroying their drinks. They came up from their seats with a roar, and the fracas was on.

Zero had a ton of fun pounding the holy hell out of a few Reploids, although it was annoying how she had to pull her blows. She threw one Reploid clear through a wall, and scowled petulantly.

"All so fragile! This is no fun-" Someone nailed her from behind, smashing a bottle over her head. "Ohh… that smarts." She grabbed the woman who had done that, and tossed her after the other guy. But now she was covered in booze and the fun was wearing off. She grabbed a bottle from the bar, and looked around from Spider. He was amusing himself by hiding behind an overturned table and tossing cards at anyone who got too close. She laughed and ran over to his side.

"C'mon, Spider, let's go!" She could hear the sirens… the cops were arriving. She casually kicked a hole in a wall, and dragged Spider out with her. He was laughing, easily as drunk as her. She took a swig from the bottle, and passed it to Spider, who also took a drink.

"I am so drunk." He announced loudly. "What should we do next?" Zero pondered that question.

"Well, we could blow up another bar," she said thoughtfully. "Or… we could find Sigma and spit in his face!" Spider cheered at that idea. "Or… we can make mad, torrid love all night long!"

"I vote for door number three." Spider pinned her against a wall, making her squeal in surprise. Then she laughed, necking with him playfully.

"For gods sake, get a room!" Someone crotchety called at them. Zero would have flashed them the one finger salute, if her hands hadn't been busy.

"Mmm… a room, yes." Spider nuzzled her throat. "That sounds good. Let's go." Zero gripped him tightly as he used his PDA to call up a cab. Her teleporter could have cut through the ambient city energy and brought them directly to the Luxor… if she was willing to trust herself to input the coordinates accurately. Which would probably be a bad idea right now. She had instructed her nanites not to intervene until she fell asleep, unless her life was in danger, so she was truly blasted. In the future, synth-alcohol didn't pack this much of a punch.

"So when are we going to kick Sigma's ass?" She said, muzzily, as they got into the cab.

"Hmm… how about tomorrow?" Spider suggested with a grin. Zero laughed, leaning against him and enjoying his arm around her shoulders.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow… it's only a day away…" She sang softly.

She was having a wonderful time.

* * *

At Maverick Hunter HQ…

"Zero, I'm not sure about this." Axl squirmed uncomfortably, blushing lightly. He really liked what Zero was doing, but it felt… strange.

He'd always had a secret crush on Zero. Zero had been his best friend since he'd joined the Hunters, and they'd always had a blast, fooling around, playing pranks and killing Mavericks. But Axl had also harbored a secret desire for his friend. Secret, because he was sure Zero wouldn't be returning it… he liked girls.

Until he had received this new DNA, he hadn't considered the possibilities of his copying ability. But to his surprise, he'd found that something about this DNA made it much easier to hold onto then other ones. He could maintain this form for hours. And if he fell asleep in it, it tended to stick around. Axl was amazed by that. Normally, if he lost consciousness, violently or otherwise, he immediately reverted back to his primary form.

And his new form had something else going for it. It was unique, not merely a copy of some other female in HQ. Zero seemed to think it was sexy as Hell, where he'd never been interested in Axl the other times he'd transformed. So now Axl was in Zero's room, lured in by his crush and Zero's obvious interest, experimenting on the couch. Axl's shirt was already on the floor, and since his body was almost identical to Marino's, Zero had a lot to explore. Which he was doing now, with his lips and… Axl tensed with a moan as Zero found a particularly sensitive spot. It was strange, but it felt so good… "Ahhhh… Ze-RO!" Axl's hips bucked up as Zero touched something _there!_ "Wh-what… is that…?" He gasped out, eyes wide. He knew how his male form worked, but this female one had some dark and mysterious features… which Zero apparently already knew about.

"Hm?" Zero looked up at him with an amused smile, his eyes dark with lust. "That's what little girls are made with." Axl blushed. "Are you a virgin?"

"Y-yes." Axl whispered, to Zero's surprise. Zero pulled back a bit, tilting his head to one side.

"In both forms?" He asked more gently, and Axl replied with a small nod, blushing. Zero regarded him for a moment, then smiled slowly. "Well, don't worry. I'll teach you." He leaned close to kiss Axl again, and Axl submitted with a mixture of desire and fear.

He wanted to learn this, and learn it from Zero, but he had heard it hurt the first time with girls. How would this really be? But Zero wouldn't hurt him… Zero knew what he was doing. Surely it would go fine.

Surely.

* * *

The next day, X tapped on Zero's door with a scowl. The red Hunter was late for a meeting. Not a huge surprise, Zero hated meetings, but still…! Now X had been asked by Signas to go fetch him. It was a duty he'd have gladly passed on. Zero was always grumpy as hell when he was woken up early in the morning.

"Zero, come on…" X grumbled, then finally tapped in the door combination to let himself in. Zero had given it to him a long time ago, and never bothered to change it. The only time X used it was to drag him out of bed, anyway.

As X walked towards the bedroom, his attention was caught by the couch, and he frowned. Was that…? He stepped closer, and reached down to touch the russet stain on the beige cushions. Yes, it was dried blood. Not a lot of blood, but why would Zero have that on his couch?

X scowled, and cautiously walked towards Zero's bedroom. Maybe the red Hunter had just cut himself. Maybe there was an innocent explanation. Maybe pigs would fly, too. X wondered exactly what girl he had deflowered. One of the rookies? Although he'd never figured out why Reploid girls had that particular feature of human girls… a hymen was an entirely useless thing to them. Maybe Dr. Cain had had a fetish about virginity? A hymen was a very easy way to tell…

Pushing away his musings, X peeked into Zero's bedroom. Yes, there was a girl there, curled up on the pillow beside him. A very pretty girl, too. X blushed… the room was warm, Zero liked it hot, and the blanket had gotten pushed down sometime during the night. X jerked his gaze up to her face, trying to figure out who she was. Hmm, long orange hair, scars between her closed eyes… scars?

X stepped back, feeling stunned. Amazed, baffled, and utterly, completely stunned. He considered the situation for a long moment, then walked to the door to use his communicator.

"Signas? This is X. Zero's a little… indisposed right now. Can we go on without him?" A pause. "No, he's not hungover. It's… different." Another pause. "I'd really rather not say. But I'd rather not disturb him right now." Pause. "Okay, I'll be right down." X set off, grateful that he wouldn't have to wake up Zero and mortify Axl in the process.

Although he wasn't sure he'd be able to look at the spiky haired kid the same way again.

* * *

"Okay, it is time to totally whup some ass," Zero said, squinting at a Maverick base. Then she laughed, high and cold. "I think I should make the opening strike… memorable." She and Spider had been playing at cards and games for almost two weeks. Now she wanted some real action, where she could outright kill something, not silly barroom brawls.

In the history she remembered, the Hunters would have assaulted this facility a half year from now. It was an outpost the Mavericks were currently using to launch attacks on some major population centres. Sigma wouldn't be here, but that was probably just as well. Zero was coming up blank on how to get him fixed in one place where she could annihilate him. And while she was completely immune to any infection, Spider was not, so it was probably better this way. And speaking of him, Spider was looking at her quizzically.

"Memorable? How so?" He questioned, and Zero smiled nastily.

"Just stay here." She stepped out confidently, onto a hill overlooking the base. The Mavericks would be detecting her shortly, but she was out of their missile range. However… they were within hers. White light enfolded her as she called up her ultimate form, Angelus. As she called it, she floated upwards, standing on nothing but air.

Spider watched her, wide-eyed. The body she had assumed was glorious, but almost painful to see. Spirals of light encased her limbs, and her whole body had assumed a sinuous grace. Long hair was blown around her in a spectral wind, but it was no longer any normal color. Every color in the rainbow shone through it, shifting like an opal as she moved. Dozens of slender tentacles had sprouted from her back, and formed delicate patterns with entrancing grace. Her jumpsuit had turned silver, but energy was running up and down it, and Spider was certain that if he dared touch her he would receive an almighty jolt.

But he found one part of her change unsettling. Her skin had turned a very light green, and her eyes were a flat, reflective jet black, like pieces of polished hematite. He had the unpleasant feeling that they hid a transformation that was even more alien than it outwardly appeared… a change that involved her thoughts and feelings. But if Zero was uncomfortable, she made no sign of it. She only raised one hand and-

Pure power lanced down from her fist. It crashed into the Maverick fortress like the wrath of an angry god, and Spider stared in something approaching horror as it scythed through the outer wall and tore a huge breach in their defenses. That weapon was beyond anything the Hunters had… except perhaps long range, heavy duty lasers, the type that were absolutely huge and needed permanent placements…

Zero abruptly dropped her Angelus form, and landed neatly on her feet, grinning. "That's what I meant by memorable." She turned to see Spider giving her a wide-eyed stare, and grinned. "Ah, Spider, don't be afraid! Remember, it's been a thousand years for me, and we spent a hundred of it fighting with the Enemy." The pace of science always increased in wartime, and they had spent a long time fighting a truly vicious war.

"You could end this war right now, couldn't you?" Spider said softly. "You're powerful enough to destroy them all." Zero's grin faded as she saw he was serious.

"Not exactly," she replied, touching her chest. "The problem is Sigma and his body jumping ability. I could certainly destroy his hosts… I could in this time!... but actually get HIM? No. My anti-viruses and threat routines are strictly programmed to stay in my body at all times. I can purge other Reploids by interfacing with them, but I can't send out my virii."

"Then perhaps you should network with Sigma," Spider suggested, and Zero looked startled, then thoughtful.

"That's… an interesting idea. I'm not sure it would work…" She said, considering it. Movement down near the Maverick base caught Spider's attention.

"Ah, look. They appear to be launching a counter attack. Perhaps we should go meet them? Ladies first, of course." Spider said with a smile and a courtly bow. Zero laughed.

"Of course!" She quickly assumed another DNA form, one of her favorites. It was a combination of her own DNA and X's, but maximized for speed and agility. Ancient, but fun. And she felt like having some fun…


	6. Chapter 6

"Marino… I'm getting a little worried." Cinnamon gently tugged on her friend's arm, as Marino smiled and waved at a handsome guy on the practice field. He blushed and waved back with a grin, and nearly got beaned by a stray bolt. The two girls were standing on a balcony, on the third floor, that overlooked the practice field.

"About what, Cinny?" Marino leaned out over the railing to get a better look at part of the exercise, oblivious to the damage she was doing to both sides.

"Axl. He's still a girl, Marino, and I saw him trying on dresses yesterday at Milinias." That was an upscale boutique. Axl was familiar with it, mostly because Marino and Cinnamon had dragged him along to carry the bags.

"Really? That's odd." Marino frowned slightly, remembering when they had bullied Axl into trying on dozens of outfits. He hadn't been enthusiastic then.

"And he tried on this top, Marino," Cinnamon supplied, looking even more troubled. "He didn't know I was there so I peeked… it was just like that top you have, the one that you were wearing when Spider hit on you." Marino snorted as she remembered that incident. The top in question was molded to her chest, held in place with criss-crossing straps over her back. Extremely sexy and perfectly suited to a nightclub or casino. But…

"Surely Axl wasn't trying on a hot pink top?" She hadn't made Axl model that one, because the color clashed so horribly with his hair. Cinnamon shook her head.

"No, it was scarlet red, just like his eyes in that girl form. But Marino, it's so WEIRD. Why's he being a girl all the time?" Cinnamon bit her lip. She liked Axl a great deal, so this was very strange and uncomfortable. It had been fun to dress him like a doll, but all the time? Marino considered that, tapping her fingers against the rail. Then she slowly smiled.

"Well, let's hunt him down and ask." She suggested, to Cinnamon's utter dismay.

"Ask him? Just… like that? Marino!" She protested, and Marino grinned.

"Why not, Cinny? C'mon." She started out purposefully. "If he lies, then we can spy on him." Cinnamon blushed, but trotted after Marino. She would never have dared to take this direct approach, but Marino was different.

They found Axl in the first place they tried… his room.

"Hehehe…" Marino tapped in the door code with a wicked grin. She'd never been given them, she'd just stolen them by carefully watching Axl a few times. It was a pretty simple code, in any case. Cinnamon's eyes widened.

"Marino, we shouldn't just barge in on him!" She tugged on her friend's arm, who shrugged Cinnamon off.

"Hush, Cinny. If he's cross-dressing we can catch him at it." Cinnamon blushed at that, as Marino entered Axl's quarters.

They were very, very messy. Axl obviously didn't believe in cleaning up… there were old magazines and comic books on a table, along with a half dozen fantasy and science fiction books littering the floor. Marino idly picked one of them up, studying it. She smiled, amused… Axl obviously had an active imagination and a voracious appetite for all kinds of fantasy. She was pleased to see that there were no Playboys in the pile… it was all action and adventure, which suited his personality.

The bathroom door opened, and Axl walked into the room, unsuspecting. He spotted them and froze, and so did the two girls, staring.

"…Axl, what are you wearing?" Cinnamon asked, staring.

"That would be lingerie," Marino said with a slow grin as Axl started to blush. "Really BAD lingerie. Axl, where did you get a bra and underwear with a skull print and red lace on them?" Axl backed away, looking slightly panicked.

"I, uh, ordered them on wait a minute! What are you doing in my room?" He hadn't let them in. Marino just grinned as Cinnamon hid behind her, staring at Axl with wide eyes.

"Hey, great thief here, remember? I can't believe you ordered lingerie from She snorted, shaking her head. "They have great costumes, but I wouldn't want to wear their regular lingerie collections." Axl blushed even more brightly. "And who are you wearing that for?" Marino asked shrewdly. She was sure Axl wasn't wearing lingerie just to see his female body that way.

"That's… that's none of your business, Marino!" Axl looked around desperately, and finally ducked into the bathroom and grabbed a towel to hide himself. Marino and Cinnamon were girls, just like his current body, but he still had no desire to parade around for them. "What do you two want?" This was all highly distressing for the red headed Hunter.

"We're both a bit worried about you. You've been staying in your female form a lot, Axl." Cinnamon said softly as Marino pulled away from her, noticing something on Axl's bed.

"Axl, what is this?" She asked merrily, as Axl squeaked, mortified. "A little black dress?" It was a very stylish dress, too. When Axl was wearing it, it would cling to his… her body like a second skin, and instead of shoulder straps, the fabric led up to a small gold ring that would rest in the hollow of his throat, connected to a neck strap. "Do you have a hot date tonight?"

"Marino, please…! Just leave it alone! I'm fine, okay?" Axl really didn't want to explain what was happening. X obviously knew and… Zero was being affectionate… and they had a date tonight. Oh hell, he was doomed anyway. Zero didn't care who knew. "I have a date with Zero, okay?" Marino looked over, startled, as Cinnamon gasped.

"Oh, well, that would explain the skull underwear." Marino said thoughtfully as Axl blushed. "That actually should go down pretty well, it's just about his style. But Axl… is he only attracted to this form?" She had never heard of Zero taking a male lover. She was actually rather amazed that he would overlook Axl's gender and get together with him in one of copying forms. Even a unique one. Marino glanced over at Cinnamon, and frowned. The little healer was looking very sad and misty eyed. She had always suspected that Cinnamon was fond of Axl in a more than friends' way, but she hadn't been sure until now. Still… Marino actually thought that Zero and Axl would make a better couple for the long term, personality wise.

"I don't care," Axl said, and Marino blinked at the determination in his voice. "I don't care if he doesn't want my real body… I'll stay a girl forever if that's what it takes!" He didn't want to, really, but he would do it for Zero. Marino stared at him, surprised.

"You care for him that much?" She asked softly, and Axl blushed, but nodded. "In that case… why don't we show you how to put on your makeup? You've done it all wrong." Axl had tried to get fancy with mascara, and the current effort looked a bit raccoon-like. Axl blinked, then smiled shyly.

"Could you? I couldn't figure it out. Why doesn't makeup come with instructions?" He'd looked all over for something to explain it, but he hadn't been able to find anything. Cinnamon sniffed softly, then managed a brave smile.

"Sure we will!" She said bravely. "You'll look great." Marino patted Cinnamon gently on the back, then tugged Axl back into the bathroom.

She wasn't sure how this strange love affair was going to work out, but it seemed worth helping along.

* * *

"Jacob?" A young girl frowned at the flower beds. She lived in a beautiful little bungalow, in the country. Her mother had planted flower beds all around the property, filled with dozens of different flowers. She was interested in them, and could name almost all of them. Except… overnight, it seemed, a dozen new flowers had infested the garden. They were all quite pretty, in a strange, lopsided way, and they came in dozens of colors. "Where did we get these?"

"I dunno." Her brother was supremely uninterested in flowers. Until he happened to spot one slowly scooting across the lawn. "Wow, Marjorie, look at that!"

"They can move?" Marjorie stared, then beamed. "That is so cool…! Come on, let's take them to show mom!"

"She's out, remember?" Jacob grabbed the flower. "Oops." Sap oozed through his fingers, where he had accidentally crushed the fragile plant. His sister huffed, disgusted.

"You are so useless. Here…" She carefully nudged another flower onto her hand. It went fairly willingly, and she carefully lifted it up. "Let's plant them in the front garden. Mom will see them when she comes home."

"Okay!" Soon, they were industriously transplanting flowers. And the more flowers they found, the more there seemed to be…

* * *

Zero looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was its usual, beautiful gold again, and rippled in a luxurious wave as she shook her head. She smiled, and pulled out the old red ribbon, tying it back in a ponytail again.

"You look lovely," Spider said from behind her, and ran a hand over her back with a smile. "I take it it's time to go visit Hunter HQ?" She had gone back to her original face and build, as well, overnight. It had to be a prelude to returning to the Hunters.

"Yes, I think it's about time." She sighed, then turned to grin at Spider. "Even amazing meals and wonderful entertainment can get a touch dull. I think it's time to be responsible again." That would be a bit of a shock, considering how long it had been since she'd had any duties, but it would at least be interesting.

And she really had wasted more than enough time. It had been almost two months, and she and Spider had collected several bounties, knocked over two Maverick outposts, taken out a convoy, and spent almost all the money they'd gotten. It had been a glorious time, but it couldn't last forever.

"Mmm. Would you like some company?" Spider asked, and Zero blinked, then smiled.

"To clear your semi-good name?" She said teasingly. "Sure, why not?" It was probably better for Spider to get that out of the way now rather than later.

It took them a while to get back to Hunter HQ. Zero would have teleported them there, but it had occurred to her that the satellite relays of this time might not be able to carry the full strength of her teleporter beam. She wasn't sure of that… they mainly reflected… but she wasn't going to experiment with her body. A botched teleport would be as disastrous to her now as it would have been a thousand years ago.

Zero smiled, enjoying the wind through her hair. She was riding a brand new, bright red hovercycle. Spider had a dark purple one, and together, they made an interesting pair.

Soon, they pulled up in the Hunter HQ parking lot. Zero hopped off her hoverbike, beaming, and started inside. Spider followed, more slowly and tentatively. Zero glanced back, amused, then took his hand. She was sure Spider was thinking about how the Hunters were likely to react to his presence.

The looks they attracted when they stepped inside were wide-eyed and amazed. Zero smiled and waved, then walked calmly over to the front desk.

"Rose, here to see basically everyone," she told the receptionist, who was staring wide-eyed at Spider.

"Uh… r-right away!" She picked up the phone, quickly tapping in a number. Zero turned away a bit, looking around the lobby. It still made her feel terribly nostalgic. Her gaze fixed on one of the walls, and she examined the mural there. It was a wonderful nature scene of a river, trees, animals… the sort of thing X liked. In the past, it had been too cloying for her, but now it was very homey.

She looked up with a smile as X came into the room… and halted, startled, as he saw Spider. Zero stepped back and took Spider's arm, giving X a friendly smile.

"Hello, X, it's been a long time." A terribly long time, if you didn't count cyber elfdom. It was very good to see X again, the way he was supposed to be.

"Rose… um… Spider?" X looked from Zero to Spider, confused and uncertain. "What is going on…?" If Rose was actually Zero, then she would know what had happened with Spider. And Spider was supposed to be dead… what was going on?

"I'm told someone was using my identity," Spider broke in smoothly. "And I wanted to establish my innocence. Rose tells me in her history, Zero almost took off my head." Spider wasn't at all eager to live out that episode. From Rose's description, it had sounded somewhere between dangerous and traumatic. Although Spider didn't traumatize easily. X blinked, and looked at Zero, who nodded.

"About six months from now, you would have met him on a mission and after what happened, well…" Zero shrugged expressively, and X nodded, but looked slightly troubled.

"You're telling us about the future… aren't you changing it? Should you be doing this?" X asked, frowning. Zero blinked, then laughed.

"Of course I am! I guarantee you, a circle of land wasn't transposed backwards in time during my history. In case you hadn't noticed, X, that circle is changing everything just by existing. You're already getting a bug infestation." That only made X look confused. "My very existence alters everything. There's no point in holding back, when I can possibly make this history better. A lot of my timeline totally sucked, X. Believe me."

"Hm… true." X admitted. "The butterfly effect must be wreaking havoc already." Actually, the butterfly effect would have begun to ripple outwards the instant Zero's circle appeared in this timeline. The enormous changes caused by the introduction of dozens of alien species, and Zero's own actions, would be busily scrambling the global gene pool to a hopeless mess. Zero frowned, suddenly realizing that Ciel would never be born. That… was a pity.

One of the ripple effects chose that moment to enter the reception area, beaming and carrying several bags. Zero glanced over… and stared, her eyes widening.

"Axl, you look great!" She said with a grin, as Spider slowly smiled in wordless agreement. "That jacket is perfect on you." Axl was wearing a smooth, supple black leather jacket over a light green silk tank top, and matching black leather pants. Zero's gaze fell to Axl's feet, and she grinned as she saw the high heeled leather boots. "What happened to the kid who wore nothing but stained t-shirts and tattered jeans? I never imagined this would happen when I gave you tits!" Axl blushed furiously, then choked as Zero grabbed him and gave him a tight hug. "You look great."

"Uh… th-thank you." Axl gasped out, feeling a little crushed. Zero promptly let go of him, grinning.

"Oh, did I squeeze you a bit too tightly there? Sorry, I keep forgetting my strength in this time… Reploids are all so fragile now!" That made X and Axl goggle at her, although Spider took it completely in stride. He'd seen her tearing apart a Maverick fortress all by herself.

"So you really ARE from 31XX?" Axl said, eyes wide. Despite the testimony of the datapad, and everything that had happened, he hadn't quite believed it. "Wow, what's the future like? What happened with everything?" Zero hesitated. That was a LOT of information, and they were still standing in the lobby, with all the new recruits listening in. It might be better if…

"Why don't we get Signas and Zero, rustle up some tea and biscuits, and talk about it where there aren't too many prying ears?" She said with a dazzling smile, and X suddenly looked around, reminded of the listeners. Several rookies promptly found other things to do, rather than be caught listening, but it was obvious what they had been up to. X winced, then nodded.

"Of course. Right this way." He had a burning curiosity about the future, but he would wait so Zero and Signas and everyone else could hear about it too…


End file.
